A tubular coalescing filter element for separating water from a liquid fuel, in particular diesel fuel, is known from GB 1 393 359. In the process, the to-be-filtered diesel fuel passes through a plurality of layers of the filter element. The filter element comprises at least one tubular layer of a fibrous filter material and at least one concentric permeable layer, which is designed of a thermoplastic material. The permeable layer can be a woven thermoplastic material, in particular polypropylene, nylon, polytetrafluoroethylene, viscose or an acrylic plastic. The fibrous filter material can contained glass fibers. The permeable layer of thermoplastic material can be arranged between two outer layers made of fibrous material.
The object of the invention is designing a fuel filter and a filter element of a fuel filter of the type cited at the outset which improve the filtering of particles from the fuel and the separating of water contained in the fuel.